Sewer snake



Aug. 20, 1968 M. SCHNEIDER SEWER SNAKE Filed June 21, 1966 INVI::NTOR.Mzcl zael Schnemler ATTORNEY.

BYWQ/W United States Patent 3,397,420 SEWER SNAKE Michael Schneider,2038 Watson Ave., Alliance, Ohio 44601 Filed June 21, 1966, Ser. No.559,319 1 Claim. (Cl. 15104.3)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sewer snake including a spiral wirepositioned around a plurality of interconnected elongated chain linkswherein the spiral Wire forms a flexible shaft and the interconnectedchain links form a positive and durable means of transferring torquetherethrough as to a cleaning tool at one end thereof.

This invention relates to a sewer cleaning apparatus and moreparticularly to a sewer snake capable of driving a sewer cleaning toolthrough a sewer pipe and the like.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a sewer snakeof composite construction, including a spiral wire positioned around aplurality of interconnected elongated chain links wherein the spiralwire forms a flexible shaft and the interconnected chain links form apositive and durable means of transferring torque therethrough as to acleaning tool at one end thereof.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a sewer snakeconsisting of one or more sections of flexible shafts having improvedseparable couplings at its opposite ends attached to the components ofthe flexible shaft.

Sewer snakes heretofore known in the art have usually comprised flexibleshafts formed of a spiral wire usually in predetermined lengths withdetachable couplings on its opposite ends by means of which a pluralityof the spiral wire sections may be joined in an elongated sewer cleaningtool. The torque from a source of rotary motion is transferred throughthe flexible shaft to a sewer cleaning tool as the sewer snake isadvanced through the sewer pipe being cleaned. The spiral shape isadvantageous in in that it provides a means of advancing the sewer snakerelative to projections or irregularities in the sewer pipe and providesflexibility.

In the prior art devices the spiral wire frequently wears and breaks orbecomes detached from its coupling members with the result that thesewer cleaning tool and one or more sections of the sewer snake are lostin the sewer pipe. It is sometimes necessary to dig up the pipe in orderto retrieve the parts.

The present invention relates to a sewer snake avoiding thesedifliculties of the prior art constructions and particularly in that acomposite structure is disclosed which has all of the advantages of theprior art constructions and additionally provides a positive andunbreakable means of transmitting the torque through the snake to thecleaning tool. Additionally, the present invention provides an improvedcoupling device which is capable of being worn to a marked degreewithout affecting the positive locking of the couplings on the ends ofthe sewer snake section. The prior art devices of a comparable naturefrequently become detached when worn and result in the same problems asoccur when the sewer snake sections break as aforesaid.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes andmodifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposesof the disclosure, which do not conice stitute departures from thespirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation with parts broken away showing a section ofthe sewer snake and the couplings on the opposite ends thereof.

FIGURE 2 is a cross section longitudinally of the device seen in FIGURE1.

FIGURE 3 is a cross section on line 33 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a cross section on line 4-4 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a cross section with parts broken away showing part of thecoupling of FIGURE 4 in locked rilagpn to a modified end couplingincorporating a squared s a FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of a modifiedform of sewer snake with parts broken away.

By referring to the drawings and FIGURES 1 and 2 in particular, it willbe seen that a sewer snake has been disclosed and more particularly asection which may be combined with other duplicate sections to form asewer snake of desired length. The snake comprises a relatively heavyspiral wire 10 the convolutions of which are spaced with respect to oneanother throughout the majority of its length and closely adjacent oneanother at its end sections 11 and 12. The end sections threadablyengage oppositely disposed coupling means 13 and 14. The coupling 13which appears at the upper end of the sewer snake in FIGURES l and 2 ofthe drawings has a cross shaped transversely positioned channel 15therein through the lower portion of which a movable latch bar 16 ispositioned.

By refer-ring to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that thelatch bar 16 is normally urged in one direction by a spring 17 which isseated in a central bore 18 in the coupling 13 and that the central bore18 enlarges to form a chamber 19 capable of receiving one end of a chainlink 20. A transverse pivot pin 21 is positioned through the chamber 19as best seen in FIGURE 3 of the drawings and the end of the chain link20 is positioned thereabout so as to be pivotally secured thereto. Byreferring again to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that theclose convolutions of the spiral wire 10 forming the end portion 11thereof threadably engage a thread configuration 22 on the exterior ofthe coupling 13 and the coupling 13 thus is attached to the spiral wire10 and the chain link 20. A plurality of interconnected chain links 20extend longitudinally of the sewer snake and at the opposite end thereofas defined by the coupling 14 one of the chain links 20 extends int-o asecondary chamber 23 and engages a secondary pivot pin 24 in thecoupling 14. The exterior of the coupling 14, at the lower end of thesewer snake as seen in FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, is provided witha secondary exterior thread pattern 25 on which the closely spacedconvolutions of the spiral wire 10 defining the end 12 thereof arethreadably engaged. The coupling 14 has a cross sectionally cross shapedtransversely positioned depending end portion 26 as best seen in crosssection in FIGURE 4 of the drawings. The configuration of the crossshaped depending portion 26 is such that it will slidably engage thecross shaped channel 15 in the coupling 13 as heretofore described whenthe locking bar 16 is moved downwardly and out of the channel 15. Thisalternate positioning of the locking bar 16 is occasioned by manualengagement of the opposite ends thereof where they appear in recesses inthe opposite sides of the coupling 13. In order that the locking bar 16will hold the coupling 26 in locked position in the the channel 15 andthereby join the adjacent sections of the sewer snake in end to endrelation in a manner that precludes accidental disconnection the lowerportion of the cross shaped depending extension 26 of the coupling 14 isprovided with a notch 27 midway between its ends and of a size and shapecapable of receiving the locking bar 16 so that when the same is inregistry in the notch 27 the coupling 14 cannot be removed from itsengagement with the coupling 13, as it must move transversely thereof.

By referring again to FIGURE 2 of the drawings and the uppermost portionthereof and the locking bar 16 in particular, it will be observed thatit is positioned in a transverse passageway 28 formed in the coupling 13which is of sufficient size to permit the locking bar 16 to be movedvertically relative thereto as is necessary in moving from locked tounlocked position as heretofore described. It will be seen that thearrangement of the passageway 28 and the locking bar 16 and its spring17 is such that even though one end of the locking bar 16 is moveddownwardly to the fullest extent possible the middle portion thereofwill still remain partially engaged in the notch 27 and thus prevent theaccidental unlocking and disconnection of the coupling 13 and 14. Itwill thus be observed that it is necessary to move the locking bar 16downwardly in its entirety before its middle section will release thematching configuration in the coupling 14 and permit the disengagementof the couplings.

It will thus be seen that a sewer snake has been disclosed whichpossesses all of the advantages of the spiral wire type of similarconstruction as heretofore known in the art and more importantlyincludes the interconnecting links which are flattened between theireyeleted ends as shown and which extend from the couplings on either endof the sewer snake section. It will occur to those skilled in the artthat while the spiral wire configuration will advantageously permit thesewer snake to be positioned in a sewer pipe and moved longitudinallythereof, the actual torque of the rotating motion applied to the deviceby means (not shown) to drive a cleaning tool (not shown) is carried bythe links 20 thereof and that the possibility of a section of the sewersnake breaking is practically eliminated. It will be observed that thelinks 20 are preferably flattened intermediate their eyeleted ends andwelded to one another so that they become in effect elongated memberswith interlocking eyelets at each end.

The sewer snake sections such as disclosed herein are customarilyequipped with a sewer cleaning tool at one end and a motor driven deviceincluding a reel at the other end is used to rotate the sewer snake asit is fed into a sewer pipe. In some applications the device may be usedby rotating the same with a difierent source of rotary motion and inorder that this may readily be accomplised a fitting comprising anadaptor has been devised and is illustrated in FIGURE of the drawings inconnection with one of the coupling members 14. The adaptor fittingcomprises a body member 29 having a square extension 30 on one end whichis adapted to be engaged in the chuck of an electric drill or similartool which will impart rotary motion of the device. The other end of thebody member 29 includes a coupling configuration exactly the same asthat heretofore described in connection with the coupling member 13 andillustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawings.

Still referring to FIGURE 5 it will be seen that this couplingconfiguration includes a transverse passageway 31 in which a locking bar32 is movably positioned and a central cavity in the body memberpositions a coil spring 33 which normally urges the locking bar 32toward the coupling configuration comprising the cross shaped dependingmember 26 on the coupling 14 and including the transverse slot or notch27 therein as heretofore described.

4 As illustrated in FIGURE 5 of the drawings the locking bar 32 is shownwith one end thereof moved downwardly and the other end still held inuppermost position by the spring 33 thus indicating the degree of motionnecessary before an unlatching of the coupling parts may be effective.

Those skilled in the art will observe that in some instances a smallerlight weight form of the sewer snake invention may be advantageouslyused and such a modification is illustrated in FIGURE 6 of the drawingswith parts broken away. In FIGURE 6 a plurality of rods 34 havingeyelets 35 on their opposite ends are interconnected to form a torquetransferring means. An elongated spiral shaped wire 36 is positionedabout the rods 34 and the eyelets 35 which are interconnected one withthe other and the convolutions of the spiral wire 36 are spread out sothat there are only relatively few convolutions between the ends of thismodified sewer snake section. At each end the spiral wire is providedwith a plurality of closely wrapped convolutions 37 and they arethreadably engaged on a thread pattern on the exterior of a coupling 38which in turn has a squared extension 39 thereon which is adapted to bereceived in the chuck of an electrical drill. Thus it will be seen thatwhere a single ten to fifteen foot section of sewer snake may be used toclear a blocked sewer pipe the modification of FIGURE 6 may beadvantageously used as it is light Weight, integral and capable of beingoperated by a suitable electrical drill or the like.

Those skilled in the art will observe that the opposite end of themodified sewer snake will include a configuration very much like thecoupling 13 arranged to mount a sewer cleaning tool of conventionaldesign.

It will thus be seen that a sewer snake has been disclosed which meetsthe several objects of the invention and having thus described myinvention, what I claim is:

1. A sewer snake comprising an elongated section of spiral wire havingthe convolutions at both ends thereof in adjacent relation and theconvolutions therebetween spaced relative to one another, couplings ateither end of said sewer snake, said couplings comprising crosssectionally circular body members having thread patterns on theirexterior surfaces engaged with the adjacent convolutions of said spiralwire, a plurality of links interconnected to one another and positionedlongitudinally of said spiral wire and pivotally attached at each of theopposite ends thereof to said couplings, interlocking configurations onsaid couplings comprising a transverse slot in one coupling, theentrance of said slot being narrower than an area therein and atransversely extending extension on the other coupling, the extensionhaving a cross sectional configuration registering in said slot, andlocking means including a right angular notch transversely of saidtransverse extension and a right angular elongated passagewaytransversely of said slotted coupling, a locking bar disposed in saidpassageway for manual movement and spring means urging said locking barinto the area of said transverse slot for registry with said notch insaid transverse extension.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 501,731 7/ 18'93 Priest.1,641,312 9/1927 Bertone. 1,805,014 5/1931 Schalk 287103 2,521,1729/1950 Kollmann 287-103 2,880,435 4/ 1959 Deutsch et a1. 3,118,1591/1964 Kollmann.

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner.

